Description

Features

Rating sites typically show a series of images (or other content) in random fashion, or chosen by computer algorithm, rather than allowing users to choose. They then ask users for a rating or assessment, which is generally done quickly and without great deliberation. Users score items on a scale of 1 to 10, yes or no. Others, such as BabeVsBabe.com, ask users to choose between two samples. Typically, the site gives instant feedback in terms of the item's running score, or the percentage of other users who agree with the assessment. They sometimes offer aggregate statistics or "best" and "worst" lists. Most allow users to submit their own image, sample, or other relevant content for others to rate. Some require the submission as a condition of membership.

Subject matter

One category of rating sites, such as Hot or Not or HotFlation, is devoted to rating contributors' physical attractiveness. Other looks-based rating sites include RateMyFace (an early site, launched in the Summer of 1999) and NameMyVote, which asks users to guess a person's political party based on their looks. Some sites are devoted to rating the appearance of pets (e.g. kittenwar.com, petsinclothes.com, and meormypet.com). Another class allows users to rate short video or music clips. One variant, a "Darwinian poetry" site, allows users to compare two samples of entirely computer-generated poetry using a Condorcet method. Successful poems "mate" to produce poems of ever-increasing appeal. Yet others are devoted to disliked men (DoucheBagAlert), bowel movements (ratemypoo.com), unsigned bands (RateMyBand), politics (HateMyTory.Com), nightclubs, business professionals, clothes, cars, and many other subjects.

When rating sites are dedicated to rating products, services, or businesses rather than to rating people, and are used for more serious or well thought-out ratings, they tend to be called review sites, although the distinction is not exact.

History

The popularity of rating people and their abilities on a scale, such as 1-10, traces back to at least the late 19th century, and the algorithms for aggregating quantitative rating scores far earlier than that. The 1979 film 10 is an example of this. The title derives from a rating system Dudley Moore uses to grade women based upon beauty, with a 10 being the epitome of attractiveness. The notion of a "perfect ten" came into common usage as a result of this film. In the film, Moore rates Bo Derek an "11."

In 1990, one of the first computer-based photographic attractiveness rating studies was conducted. During this year psychologists Langlois and Roggman examined whether facial attractiveness was linked to geometric averageness. To test their hypothesis, they selected photographs of 192 male and female Caucasian faces; each of which was computer scanned and digitized. They then made computer-processed composites of each image, as 2-, 4-, 8-, 16-, and 32-face composites. The individual and composite faces were then rated for attractiveness by 300 judges on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = very unattractive, 5 = very attractive). The 32-composite face was the most visually attractive of all the faces. Subsequent studies were done on a 10-point scale.
In 1992, Perfect 10 magazine and video programming was launched by Edward Rasen, the original executive editor of SPIN magazine, to feature only women who would rank 10 for attractiveness. Julie Kruis, a swimsuit model, was the original spokesmodel. In 1996, Rasen created the first “Perfect 10 Model Search” at the Pure Platinum club near Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His contests were broadcast on Network 1, a domestic C-bandsatellite channel. Other unrelated "Perfect 10" contests became popular throughout the 1990s.

The first ratings sites started in 1999, with RateMyFace.com and RateMyProfessors. The most popular of all time, Hot or Not, was launched in 2000. Hot or Not generated many spin-offs and imitators. There are now hundreds of such sites, and even meta-sites that categorize them all.

In the fall of 2007, HotFlation.com , a photo rating and sharing site that extended the Hot or Not concept by taking user location into account in determining where users were considered 'hot,' was launched by two LA-based entrepreneurs. The site combined the photo rating essentials of Hot or Not and its ilk with enhanced features and 'Web 2.0' interactivity (tags, comments, widgets, etc.).

Criticism

Rating sites have a social feedback effect; many high school principals and administrators, for example, have begun to regularly monitor the status of their teaching staff via student controlled "rating sites". Some looks-based sites have come under criticism for promoting vanity and self-consciousness. Some claim they potentially expose users to sexual predators.
Most rating sites suffer from similar selection bias since the only highly motivated individuals devote their time to completing these rankings, and not a fair sampling of the population. Additionally, vengeful individuals can post multiple comments, thereby skewing the ranking.

Examples

Below is a sampling of rating sites that have achieved some recognition and coverage.

This is an WikiProject Lists#Incomplete lists, which may never be able to satisfy certain standards for completeness. Additions are welcome as long as notability is RSd or established by wikilinking to an article about the site.''

RateMyTeachers — a spin-off of RateMyProfessors, used to rate elementary school, middle school and high school teachers' performance (and popularity) as a service to students, parents and the teachers themselves. Participants give numerical ratings on a scale of 1 to 5 in three different categories to their current or former teachers. Visitors can also leave an optional brief comment based on their experience with the teacher. Comments are screened by over 7,000 volunteer moderators for appropriateness.